Asia: Equities edge up

Asian markets rose yesterday Tuesday August 07 on hopes the European Central Bank will soon restart its sovereign bond-buying scheme, but gains were capped by profit-taking after Monday’s big gains.

The euro edged up as attention turned back to Spain, with speculation swirling that the government would officially ask for eurozone financial aid soon, easing its crippling debt troubles.

Standard Chartered Bank dived after being accused by the United States of hiding hundreds of billions of dollars of transactions with Iran despite the country being under tight financial sanctions imposed by Washington.

Tokyo rose 0.88 per cent, or 77.02 points, to 8,803.31, while Seoul closed flat, adding 0.92 points to 1,886.80.

Sydney climbed 0.45 per cent to end at 4,291.6 after the Australian central bank announced a widely-expected decision to keep interest rates in hold for a second straight month.

Shanghai Composite Index ended up 0.13 per cent, or 2.70 points, at 2,157.62. Manila was closed because of heavy storms.

And in Japan, analysts voiced fears that political uncertainty there would hit shares after the opposition threatened a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

HONG KONG: STOCKS rose 0.37 per cent yesterday on hopes the European Central Bank will restart its bond-buying scheme soon, but Standard Chartered bank slumped on US claims it hid huge deals with Iranian lenders.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 73.83 points to end at 20,072.55.
Standard Chartered, the most heavily-traded stock yesterday, recovered partially from an intraday low of HK$149. It took a 14.9 per cent beating to end at HK$160.10.
Esprit shares went in the opposite direction, rallying 28 per cent to close at HK$12.76.

SINGAPORE:  THE Straits Times Index fell 0.13 per cent, or 4.08 points, to 3,067.74 from a one-year high.
Yesterday’s close brings the STI 2012 year-to-date performance to +15.92 per cent. There were 11 gainers, four decliners and 15 stocks unchanged.
CapitaLand was down 2.24 per cent to S$3.06 after its CEO sold one million shares. SingTel added 0.58 per cent to S$3.47.
The top active stocks were GoldenAgri (-0.69 per cent), Noble Grp (+0.91 per cent) and Genting (unchanged).

KUALA LUMPUR:  SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia ended lower yesterday on selling pressure across the heavyweights after recent gains, dealers.
The key index fell 8.31 points to 1,631.12, it had opened at 1,640.56 and hovered between 1,631.12 and 1,641.66 points.
“The index came under selling pressure in late trading. It could also be a case of profit taking on selected stocks,” MIDF Research, senior vice-president Zulkifli Hamzah said.
Regionally, most markets were in the green zone except the FBM KLCI and Singapore’s Straits Times Index that closed lower, which may imply rotational forces at work, he said.
“We are not perturbed with the decline as it does not suggest the onset of any major downtrend in the market,” he said.
The Finance Index lost 43.909 points to 14,668.86, the Plantation Index fell 38.92 points to 8,661.89 and the Industrial Index was 34.2 points lower at 2,829.26.
The FBM Emas Index went down 55.04 points to 11,170.21, the FBMT100 decreased 57.819 points to 10,988.44 and the FBM ACE Index was 63.06 points lower at 4,436.35.

In other markets:

* Wellington rose 0.61 per cent, or 21.61 points, to 3,584.81.

* Taipei was 0.13 per cent, or 9.13 points, higher at 7,295.46.

* Bangkok added 0.01 per cent, or 0.18 points, to 1,208.19.

* Jakarta fell 0.5 per cent, or 19.92 points, to 4,085.58

* Mumbai rose 1.08 per cent, or 188.82 points, to 17,601.78.

VIETNAM: Vietnamese shares retreated today as local investors took profit after recent rally, liquidity fell.
The benchmark VN Index gave up 0.66 point or 0.16% to 422.5. Volume fell 26.3% to 33.16 million shares worth of VND548.3 billion. Put through trading contribute 3.7 million shares worth of VND113.33 billion.
The VN30 lost 0.9 point or 0.18%, to 502.07.  Amongst its 30 members, 5 gained, 20 lost and 5 unchanged.
On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX declined 0.87 point or 1.23% to 69.58. Trading volume fell 28.2% to 34.9 million shares worth VND540 billion.
HNX30 lost 2.62 points or 1.94% to 132.34.

EUROPE: Europe’s main stock markets mostly advanced yesterday, but London sank into the red as British-based emerging markets bank Standard Chartered was slammed by allegations of hiding transactions with Iran.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies dropped 0.20 per cent to 5,797.20 points in midday deals.
Frankfurt’s DAX 30 gained 0.30 per cent to 6,939.87 points and in Paris the CAC 40 climbed 0.39 per cent to 3,414.96. Madrid rose 0.82 per cent and Milan added 0.67 per cent.
The European single currency rose to US$1.2414 from US$1.2399 late in New York on Monday.
“The focus is still firmly on Standard Chartered,” said analyst Fiona Cinotta at trading group City Index.
She added that markets were pausing for breath after recent sharp gains caused by positive US jobs data and improved sentiment over the eurozone debt crisis despite increasing debt woes for Spain.

AMERICA:  It was a day of milestones for the stock market.

Stronger corporate earnings reports and expectations that central banks will act to support the economy powered the Standard & Poor’s 500 index past 1,400 for the first time in three months. The index rose 7.12 points to close at 1,401.35 on Tuesday. Energy stocks increased the most of the 10 industry groups tracked by the index.

The Nasdaq composite index marked a milestone of its own: the first close above 3,000 since early May. The Nasdaq rose 25.95 points to 3,015.86.

The S&P hasn’t closed above 1,400 since May 2, and the Nasdaq hasn’t closed above 3,000 since May 3.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 51.09 points to 13,168.60. The Dow is now 996 points below its all-time high of 14,164.53 reached on Oct. 9, 2007, prior to the financial crisis. The Dow would have to rise 7.6 percent to break that record.

Energy companies rose broadly after Chesapeake Energy reported that its income doubled in the second quarter. Revenue from oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids rose. Chesapeake’s stock soared $1.67 to $19.37, lifting other energy stocks with it — Cabot Oil & Gas jumped $2.09 to $42.88 and Occidental Petroleum rose $2.48 to $90.74.

Chesapeake was the latest major U.S. company to turn in a stronger earnings report. Of the 430 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings through Tuesday, 65 percent beat Wall Street’s expectations, according to S&P Capital IQ. More than 43 percent have reported double-digit growth.

On Tuesday, accessories maker Fossil reported that its second-quarter net income climbed 12 percent thanks to growing demand in Asia and strong watch sales. The performance topped analysts’ estimates, and the stock popped $21.98, or 31.5 percent, to $91.77, the biggest gain in the S&P 500 index.

MGM Resorts International reported a 29 percent surge in revenue even though the casino company had a quarterly loss. The stock rose 70 cents, or 7.5 percent, to $10.08.

Also Tuesday, the Labor Department said U.S. employers posted the most job openings in four years in June, a positive sign that hiring may pick up. Layoffs also fell. The data follow Friday’s report that said U.S. employers in July added the most jobs in five months, far more than economists were expecting.

Investors cut their holdings of safer assets like U.S. Treasurys, sending yields higher, as investors sold them. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.63 percent from 1.56 late Monday.

Benchmark Currency Rates

 

	USD	EUR	JPY	GBP	CHF	CAD	AUD	HKD
USD	–	1.2391	0.0127	1.5613	1.0313	1.0025	1.0542	0.1290
EUR	0.8071	–	0.0103	1.2601	0.8323	0.8091	0.8508	0.1041
JPY	78.5500	97.3400	–	122.6450	81.0180	78.7500	82.8090	10.1290
GBP	0.6405	0.7936	0.0082	–	0.6606	0.6421	0.6752	0.0826
CHF	0.9696	1.2014	0.0123	1.5139	–	0.9720	1.0220	0.1250
CAD	0.9975	1.2360	0.0127	1.5574	1.0288	–	1.0515	0.1286
AUD	0.9486	1.1755	0.0121	1.4811	0.9784	0.9510	–	0.1223
HKD	7.7547	9.6086	0.0987	12.1071	7.9972	7.7739	8.1747	–

 

Category: FinanceAsia